Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne soared to the MCE British Superbike pole position onboard his Panigale and even went under lap record pace at the Snetterton 300 track this afternoon.
The multiple champ was happy with the setup of his bike during this race weekend, and felt that the recent test at the circuit a few weeks ago meant that he didn’t come to the track with a ‘blank sheet of paper’. The Panigale is a new machine for the Be Wiser team and they are still developing the Ducati, and have even received some new parts.
Byrne and his crew have been working with a new exhaust and are continuing to fine tune the bike. He is hoping for two dry races tomorrow and even though he has had mixed fortunes in the past, he is pleased with the progress that has been made this weekend and a pole position is a positive start for the double header on Sunday.
“Snetterton has been good to me in the past and it has been cruel to me in the past. There were a couple of years where I never made it past turn two and one year I was in intensive care and another time I wasn’t so well either,” said Byrne, speaking at the track.
“Jonathan [Palmer] and Stuart [Higgs] have done a great job and invested a lot of money in the track and changed the layout and Snetterton has been a really fun event. There are plenty of chances to overtake people and a lot more time on the left hand side of the tyre which always used to be a problem, but it is easy to dwell on stats but it is better to look forward to see if we can increase those stats.
“We have got a brand new motorcycle and every weekend brings a little bit more understanding. One of these things that really helped us this weekend was that we tested a few weeks ago here so we didn’t start with a blank sheet of paper and we started with a rough idea of where we wanted to be.
“We did some fine tuning and introduced some new parts, and the new parts have some pluses and minuses at the moment but I know that everything will be a little bit better again tomorrow. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s races and I hope they are dry.
“Q2 we pushed on a bit more and then we had a good push in the last one and fortunately pulled off a lap. I was not sure all day yesterday and even today to a certain degree whether or not the exhaust in particular makes the bike feel like it has got a bit more go at the top of the RPM, so riding the RPM just feels a bit hungrier for rev’s.
But on the flip side it has taken away some of the drive and put a bit of a hole in the bottom and I am not 100 percent convinced that we are going to load the top end power. I think we lost a bit in the mid range so that is one of the things we are continuing to fine tune. The team have done a great job. I feel much happier with the bike in the dry now.”
